Lucasta [84]
TO MY NOBLE KINSMAN THOMAS STANLEY,<93.1> ESQ. ON HIS LYRICK POEMS COMPOSED BY MR. JOHN GAMBLE.<93.2>
I. What means this stately tablature, The ballance of thy streins, Which seems, in stead of sifting pure, T' extend and rack thy veins? Thy Odes first their own harmony did break: For singing, troth, is but in tune to speak.
II. Nor trus<93.3> thy golden feet and wings. It may<93.4> be thought false melody<93.5> T' ascend to heav'n by silver strings; This is Urania's heraldry. Thy royal poem now we may extol, As<93.6> truly Luna blazon'd upon Sol.
III. As when Amphion first did call Each listning stone from's den; And with his<93.7> lute did form the<93.8> wall, But with his words the men; So in your twisted numbers now you thus Not only stocks perswade, but ravish us.
IV. Thus do your ayrs eccho ore The notes and anthems of the sphaeres, And their whole consort back restore, As if earth too would blesse Heav'ns ears; But yet the spoaks, by which they scal'd so high, Gamble hath wisely laid of UT RE MI.<>
<93.1> Thomas Stanley, Esq., author of the HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, and an elegant poet and translator, v. SUPRA.
Lovelace wrote these lines for AYRES AND DIALOGUES. TO BE SUNG TO THE THEORBO, LUTE, OR BASE-VIOLL: By John Gamble, London, Printed by William Godbid for the Author, 1656. folio. [The words are by Stanley.]
<93.2> "Wood, in his account of this person, vol. i. col. 285, conjectures that many of the songs in the above collection (Gamble's AYRES, &c. 1659), were written by the learned Thomas Stanley, Esq., author of the HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, and seemingly with good reason, for they resemble, in the conciseness and elegant turn of them, those poems of his printed in 1651, containing translations from Anacreon, Bion, Moschus and others."--Hawkins.
<93.3> LUCASTA and AYRES AND DIALOGUES read THUS, which leaves no meaning in this passage.
<93.4> Old editions have MAY IT.
<93.5> Harmonie--AYRES AND DIALOGUES, &c.
<93.6> Original reads AND, and so also the AYRES AND DIALOGUES.
<93.7> Old editions have THE.
<93.8> So the AYRES AND DIALOGUES. LUCASTA has HIS.
<> P. 249. UT RE MI.
See LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, 1598, iv. 3:-- "Hol. Old Mantuan! Old Mantuan! who understandeth thee not, loves thee not--UT, RE, SOL, la, mi, FA"----
And Singer's SHAKESPEARE, ed. 1856, ii. 257, NOTE 15.
TO DR. F. B[EALE]; ON HIS BOOK OF CHESSE.<94.1>
Sir, how unravell'd is the golden fleece: Men, that could only fool at FOX AND GEESE, Are new-made polititians<94.2> by thy book, And both can judge and conquer with a look. The hidden fate<94.3> of princes you unfold; Court, clergy, commons, by your law control'd. Strange, serious wantoning all that they Bluster'd and clutter'd for, you PLAY.
<94.1> These lines, among the last which Lovelace ever wrote, were originally prefixed to "The Royal Game of Chesse-Play. Sometimes the Recreation of the late King, with many of the Nobility. Illustrated with almost an hundred gambetts. Being the Study of Biochino, the famous Italian [Published by Francis Beale.]" Lond. 1656, 12mo.
<94.2> The text of 1656 has, erroneously no doubt, POLITIANS.
<94.3> Text of 1656 has FATES.
TO THE GENIUS OF MR. JOHN HALL. ON HIS EXACT TRANSLATION OF HIEROCLES HIS COMMENT UPON THE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTHAGORAS.<95.1>
Tis not from cheap thanks thinly to repay Th' immortal grove of thy fair-order'd bay Thou planted'st round my humble fane,<95.2> that I Stick on thy hearse this sprig of Elegie: Nor that your soul so fast was link'd in me, That now I've both, since't has forsaken thee: That thus I stand a Swisse before thy gate, And dare, for such another, time and fate. Alas! our faiths made different essays, Our Minds and Merits brake two several ways; Justice commands I wake thy learned dust, And truth, in whom all causes center must.
Behold! when but a youth, thou fierce
I. What means this stately tablature, The ballance of thy streins, Which seems, in stead of sifting pure, T' extend and rack thy veins? Thy Odes first their own harmony did break: For singing, troth, is but in tune to speak.
II. Nor trus<93.3> thy golden feet and wings. It may<93.4> be thought false melody<93.5> T' ascend to heav'n by silver strings; This is Urania's heraldry. Thy royal poem now we may extol, As<93.6> truly Luna blazon'd upon Sol.
III. As when Amphion first did call Each listning stone from's den; And with his<93.7> lute did form the<93.8> wall, But with his words the men; So in your twisted numbers now you thus Not only stocks perswade, but ravish us.
IV. Thus do your ayrs eccho ore The notes and anthems of the sphaeres, And their whole consort back restore, As if earth too would blesse Heav'ns ears; But yet the spoaks, by which they scal'd so high, Gamble hath wisely laid of UT RE MI.<
<93.1> Thomas Stanley, Esq., author of the HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, and an elegant poet and translator, v. SUPRA.
Lovelace wrote these lines for AYRES AND DIALOGUES. TO BE SUNG TO THE THEORBO, LUTE, OR BASE-VIOLL: By John Gamble, London, Printed by William Godbid for the Author, 1656. folio. [The words are by Stanley.]
<93.2> "Wood, in his account of this person, vol. i. col. 285, conjectures that many of the songs in the above collection (Gamble's AYRES, &c. 1659), were written by the learned Thomas Stanley, Esq., author of the HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, and seemingly with good reason, for they resemble, in the conciseness and elegant turn of them, those poems of his printed in 1651, containing translations from Anacreon, Bion, Moschus and others."--Hawkins.
<93.3> LUCASTA and AYRES AND DIALOGUES read THUS, which leaves no meaning in this passage.
<93.4> Old editions have MAY IT.
<93.5> Harmonie--AYRES AND DIALOGUES, &c.
<93.6> Original reads AND, and so also the AYRES AND DIALOGUES.
<93.7> Old editions have THE.
<93.8> So the AYRES AND DIALOGUES. LUCASTA has HIS.
<
See LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, 1598, iv. 3:-- "Hol. Old Mantuan! Old Mantuan! who understandeth thee not, loves thee not--UT, RE, SOL, la, mi, FA"----
And Singer's SHAKESPEARE, ed. 1856, ii. 257, NOTE 15.
TO DR. F. B[EALE]; ON HIS BOOK OF CHESSE.<94.1>
Sir, how unravell'd is the golden fleece: Men, that could only fool at FOX AND GEESE, Are new-made polititians<94.2> by thy book, And both can judge and conquer with a look. The hidden fate<94.3> of princes you unfold; Court, clergy, commons, by your law control'd. Strange, serious wantoning all that they Bluster'd and clutter'd for, you PLAY.
<94.1> These lines, among the last which Lovelace ever wrote, were originally prefixed to "The Royal Game of Chesse-Play. Sometimes the Recreation of the late King, with many of the Nobility. Illustrated with almost an hundred gambetts. Being the Study of Biochino, the famous Italian [Published by Francis Beale.]" Lond. 1656, 12mo.
<94.2> The text of 1656 has, erroneously no doubt, POLITIANS.
<94.3> Text of 1656 has FATES.
TO THE GENIUS OF MR. JOHN HALL. ON HIS EXACT TRANSLATION OF HIEROCLES HIS COMMENT UPON THE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTHAGORAS.<95.1>
Tis not from cheap thanks thinly to repay Th' immortal grove of thy fair-order'd bay Thou planted'st round my humble fane,<95.2> that I Stick on thy hearse this sprig of Elegie: Nor that your soul so fast was link'd in me, That now I've both, since't has forsaken thee: That thus I stand a Swisse before thy gate, And dare, for such another, time and fate. Alas! our faiths made different essays, Our Minds and Merits brake two several ways; Justice commands I wake thy learned dust, And truth, in whom all causes center must.
Behold! when but a youth, thou fierce